A history of long-term human-environment interactions in the French Pyrenees inferred from the pollen data Didier Galop, Damien Rius, Carole Cugny, Florence Mazier To cite this version: Didier Galop, Damien Rius, Carole Cugny, Florence Mazier. A history of long-term human- environment interactions in the French Pyrenees inferred from the pollen data. Continuity and change in cultural adaptation to mountain environments. From prehistory to contemporary threats, pp.19-30, 2013. hal-01236311 HAL Id: hal-01236311 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01236311 Submitted on 1 Dec 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Chapter 3 A History of Long-Term Human–Environment Interactions in the French Pyrenees Inferred from the Pollen Data Didier Galop , Damien Rius , Carole Cugny, and Florence Mazier Introduction Over the last decade, several research programs have been involved in studying the socioecological history of the Pyrenean Mountains using sedimentary records pre- served in lakes and bogs. Their main focus was on understanding human exploita- tion of natural resources and its environmental consequences. Recovering these “memories” buried for thousands of years in sediments requires interdisciplinary efforts dealing with the analysis of a large number of bio-indicators. The study of those bio-indicators has become a multi-proxy process which combines the classi- cal study of fossil pollen and spores with macro-charcoal (size >150 m m) and non- pollen palynomorphs (algae, fungal spores, etc.) data. Those additional bio-indicators provide precise information about the historical use of fi re (Whitlock and Larsen 2002 ; Vanniere et al. 2001 ; Galop et al. 2002; Rius et al. 2009 ) as well as trophic conditions or grazing activities respectively (van Geel 2001 ; Cugny et al. 2010 ) . Along researching those biomarkers, geochemical studies of lead iso- topes helped in documenting past atmospheric pollution events related to historical mining or metallurgical activities (Bindler et al. 1999 ; Brännvall et al. 1999 ; Galop et al. 2001 ; Monna et al. 2004 ) . Leaving aside the technical aspects of those stud- ies, we brie fl y introduce below the principles of the palynological approach as a means of tracing the impact of human past activities on the local ecosystem. This approach takes into account a series of anthropogenic pollen indicators. The most obvious signature of human activity is deforestation associated with the conquest D. Galop (*) • C. Cugny • F. Mazier Laboratoire GEODE , UMR 5602 CNRS, Université Toulouse 2 , Toulouse cedex 9 , Toulouse 31058 , France e-mail: [email protected] D. Rius Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement , UMR 6249 CNRS , Besançon cedex 25030 , France L.R. Lozny (ed.), Continuity and Change in Cultural Adaptation 19 to Mountain Environments, Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation 7, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5702-2_3, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 20 D. Galop et al. of land highlighted in the pollen diagrams by lower frequencies of tree species and by the higher frequencies of herbaceous and some tree species, which prefer colo- nizing disturbed areas (juniper, birch, hazel, etc.). However, such events may also be caused by other factors unrelated to human activity (weather hazards, natural fi res, etc.). Therefore identi fi cation of other pollen indicators undoubtedly associ- ated with human actions is needed. We propose using the indicator-species approach derived from ethnobotanical investigations and based on modern pollen represen- tation of cultigens and other plants characteristic of agro-pastoral practices (Behre 1981, 1986 ; Mazier et al. 2006, 2009 ) . Cultivated species, arable weeds as well as ruderal plants found in areas impacted by past human activities such as fallows, waste ground, surroundings of buildings are considered to be such reliable indica- tors. Variations of taxon-guides can help us to understand the long-term fl uctuations of human-induced pressure at a given site and allow their interpretation in terms of spread, stability, or abandonment of human activities. Such approach has been applied to identify the main phases and processes of human impact on the northern (French side) slopes of the Pyrenees (Fig. 3.1 ). This chapter offers an overview of the last 7,000 years of human history in those mountains with a particular focus on the arrival of the Neolithic agro-pastoralists. The Neolithic Conquest The introduction of agro-pastoral culture in the Pyrenees and the spread of that culture which signi fi cantly affected the local ecosystem and contributed to environ- mental changes cannot be disconnected from the Neolithization process that affected the entire Mediterranean Basin. The palynological data acquired during the last 30 years of research conducted on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees help us to under- stand environmental changes of the landscape but also provide the pollen evidence on human impacts on the ecosystem. Those impacts, namely the appearance of grains or plants associated with agro-pastoral activities, as well as signs of openings in the forest allow us to infer the chronology and the spatial extent of the early agro- pastoral activities across the mountains. The spatiotemporal analysis of the appear- ance of early agro-pastoralists in the region clearly indicates that the Neolithic conquest of the Pyrenees was not a uniform process (Fig. 3.2 ). The spread of human Neolithic activities across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts was characterized by asymmetric diffusion processes regularly in fl uenced by what was happening in the Mediterranean zone, and an arrhythmic phase of expansion, whose origin still uncertain may have been driven by sociocultural and natural phenomena (i.e., ecological thresholds). The earliest Neolithic signs of human impact on the foothills of the Mediterranean Pyrenees are con fi rmed by pollen data from the seventh and the turn to sixth millen- nium bc , 6700–5900 cal. bc , in the lower Aude Valley (Roussillon plain), i.e., sev- eral centuries before the dates of the fi rst Neolithic archaeological evidence assessed 3 A History of Long-Term Human–Environment Interactions… 21 Middle Late Early Neolithic Bronze Age Iron Age Ant. Middle-Age Neolithic Neolithic BC - 6000 - 5000 - 4000 - 3000 - 2000 - 10000 1000 2000 AD a Agriculture + agropastoral system Slash and burn / shifting cultivation system - Transhumant + Increase of grazing pastoralism b Grazing Seasonal habitats and burials at high altitude Mobile pastoralism Seasonal occupation of caves by pastoralist Nomadic pastoralism - c Fires (human-induced) + Uplands Low and middle altitudes - Roman Increase of metallurgy + d Mining and metallurgy metalic production (Copper, Bronze, Iron) First metallurgical and mining activities Shap furnace Hydraulic forges ?? Charcoal burning - e Woodlands Increase of deforestations + Fixation of meadows and arable field at lower altitude Massive Small clearance deforestation Clearance Slash and burn cultivation Human impact on the timber line woodlands minima - - 6000 - 5000 - 4000 - 3000 - 2000 - 10000 1000 2000 Fig. 3.1 Synthesis of long-term socio-ecological history on the northern slope of the Pyrenees during the last 8,000 years inferred from palaeoecological and archaeological data between 6400 and 6000 cal. bc in Catalonia’s lowlands (Planchais 1985 ; Jalut 1995 ; Guenet 1995 ; Galop and Vaquer 2004 ) . The fi rst discrete manifestation of the pres- ence of the Neolithic societies linked to the appearance of the Cardial Ware groups in the Pyrenees is dated to 5800–5500 cal. bc , and reinforced by the data on an opening of the oak forest due to the emergence of agriculture. From the Mediterranean center the economy based on agricultural production gradually spread out across the Pyrenees at the end of the sixth and the beginning of the fi fth millennium bc . 22 D. Galop et al. 6000 - 5300 BC Early Neolithic Massif central “Landes” of Gascony Atlantic ocean Garonne valley Pays Basque Western Pyrenees -5800 Central Pyrenees Eastern PyreneesRoussillon Mediterranean sea Ebro valley 5300 - 4500 BC Early Neolithic -5200 4500 - 4000 BC Middle Neolithic 4000 - 3500 BC Middle Neolithic 3500 - 2500 BC Late Neolithic Fig. 3.2 Dissemination of agro-pastoral activities on the northern slope of the Pyrenees during the Neolithic period inferred from pollen records. Coloured discs report fi rst evidence of grazing activities suggested by the presence pollen of nitrophilous plants while the stars indicate the fi rst notations of cereal cultivation 3 A History of Long-Term Human–Environment Interactions… 23 The diffusion of agro-pastoral culture into the Pyrenees remains dif fi cult to date precisely. This is especially true for the initial stages and their study requires a lot of care and attention because the anthropogenic signature loses its strength with increasing distance from the Neolithic centers located on the Mediterranean coast. The earliest agro-pastoral communities may have operated at a scale too small, or below a disturbance